If ian s, John w, J merry are involved its almost certain Salford reds/devils are heading for disaster, I wonder whats going to happen to all the loans they have had at the expense of swinton taxpayer jobs with no prospect of ever being paid back, more to the point is the pityfull crowd they got tonight, no way will they stay in superleague on crowds of just over 2300, wouldn't mind betting the clowns at rl headquarters will change the financial rules to suit them and dr k, it looks to me like he is saying allows us to spend what we want otherwise i'll pull out. The whole sorry debacle that is Salford and the white elephant stadium should be subject to a totally independent review and if found, any misspent monies by the cronie cliques at swinton town hall should be paid back by them with interest.

This season was surely a non starter for Salford, too late to make any decent signings. Next season will be the real yard stick and with the signings that I've heard that they are making, there should be a huge improvement on this season. I can't simply say things haven't worked in such a short period of time. There will be a long term stratergy.

The likes of Wigan and Hull don't own their own ground, I don't see why that is an issue. How much did the Dr. pay to buy the club, probably next to nothing so he hasn't really had to pay for any 'assets'.

Obviously he is a saviour because the club will probably have folded without him. The best way to get bums on seats is to have a winning team, which in my opinion, they’ll win more than they lose next season. I can’t see the guy being naïve enough not to realise that the club needs to move forward off the field so the club can progress, which it appears that he is with the rebranding and attempts to try and promote the development side a little more than the previous owner. Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Again, it’s my opinion that buying the ground will come on the basis on increased rugby related revenue and should planning be approved for further development of the site. He’s probably made a judgement call to continue to rent the ground for the time being to make as it’s the most cost effective option at present. He’s done nothing wrong in doing that. There was no ‘bluff’, never a statement to suggest that I’m buying the club as well as the ground as part of the original deal, but he has expressed that he would like the stadium based on increasing the usage of the site. The only fools are the council for the funding of the stadium in the first place! The Dr. is just playing it to his advantage

The likes of Wigan and Hull don't own their own ground, I don't see why that is an issue. How much did the Dr. pay to buy the club, probably next to nothing so he hasn't really had to pay for any 'assets'.

Obviously he is a saviour because the club will probably have folded without him. The best way to get bums on seats is to have a winning team, which in my opinion, they’ll win more than they lose next season. I can’t see the guy being naïve enough not to realise that the club needs to move forward off the field so the club can progress, which it appears that he is with the rebranding and attempts to try and promote the development side a little more than the previous owner. Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Again, it’s my opinion that buying the ground will come on the basis on increased rugby related revenue and should planning be approved for further development of the site. He’s probably made a judgement call to continue to rent the ground for the time being to make as it’s the most cost effective option at present. He’s done nothing wrong in doing that. There was no ‘bluff’, never a statement to suggest that I’m buying the club as well as the ground as part of the original deal, but he has expressed that he would like the stadium based on increasing the usage of the site. The only fools are the council for the funding of the stadium in the first place! The Dr. is just playing it to his advantage

I guess I did think he bought the lot
That theory was the basis for a whole discussion on here about why he bought Salford and of course why many expected the councils debt to be repaid.
Really all he's done so far then is unburden John Wilkinson and get his face in the paper a lot.

When you wacth this weeks super league back chat, they seem to think the Dr is making a bit of a fool of himself. I predict the dr will try his best at Salford , throw plenty cash at it, buy some players but after 3 to 5 years he will walk away and then they will be screwed. Salford need 13 plaÿers, to buy the top players they're naming would smash the salary cap so therefore if he (in the real world) can only by 2 or 3 players, it would be minimum 10 years before they even looked like winning SL, too long for him because it looks like he really thinks he could win sl if not next year then definitely the year after.

This is a rugby league problem in general, money men come in but cant spend money on the good things, but instead just end up paying bills and surviving.

So when he bought salford did he not have to buy their debts? Ie council debts?

The Koukash regime took over too late to reshape the squad for this season, plus by that point a handful of their better players from 2012 had already understandably left for more secure income elsewhere. Only in the last month has he secured a new coach. True rebuilding can only begin in earnest for next year.

With no threat of relegation, there was no incentive to spend big and get marginal gains in what's left of this season.

It was clear from the further £600k pumped into the Stadium Management Company by the Council last month that although Dr Koukash had expressed an interest in taking at least some stake in the ground, he has not struck the deal. Presumably the terms on offer weren't good enough.

Even if he pours money into player recruitment for 2014, there are a few things likely to cause frustrations that he will struggle to change. RFL politics. The area's obsession with football. The stadium being in entirely the wrong location and a money pit, which I suspect is the reason why he's decided its best to leave it to the Council to keep footing the costs of Merry's folly. The pool of available playing talent is fairly small, so it will still take a while to put together a top side.

The proof of the pudding will be whether he sticks at the task in the face of these problems, or not.

When you wacth this weeks super league back chat, they seem to think the Dr is making a bit of a fool of himself. I predict the dr will try his best at Salford , throw plenty cash at it, buy some players but after 3 to 5 years he will walk away and then they will be screwed. Salford need 13 plaÿers, to buy the top players they're naming would smash the salary cap so therefore if he (in the real world) can only by 2 or 3 players, it would be minimum 10 years before they even looked like winning SL, too long for him because it looks like he really thinks he could win sl if not next year then definitely the year after.

This is a rugby league problem in general, money men come in but cant spend money on the good things, but instead just end up paying bills and surviving.

So when he bought salford did he not have to buy their debts? Ie council debts?

Wayne

All the debts from the previous regime have been ring fenced in a creditors voluntary Arrangement spanning a five year period Wayne.

Adrian Morley, Junior Sa'u and Francis Meli all heading to Barton for next season with rumours of another 4 or 5 top line players to follow. Looks like Dr Koukash is going through with at least some of his promises!

Adrian Morley, Junior Sa'u and Francis Meli all heading to Barton for next season with rumours of another 4 or 5 top line players to follow. Looks like Dr Koukash is going through with at least some of his promises!

These were all announced last week. He can buy as many players as he likes, there is no saying it will make them any better. The great player Adrian Morley has been it is hardly a signing for the future at his age although the PR will be good. I doubt Saints would allow Meli to leave if they thought he would be of benefit to them as will be the case if Puletua also signs as expected.

Granted Koukash is forming a squad but for me there is something about his intentions that I would be worried about if I was a Salford fan, not least his intention to buy a Football club before completing his rebuilding of Salford.

The problem Noble has is that Salford have had a lot of decent coaches over the years, but none of them have been able to produce the goods on the field. I remember Alex Murphy saying coaching Salford was his biggest mistake.

If Koukash can provide enough quality players, then Noble might have a chance, if not, it maybe a job to leave off his CV.

Swinton RLFC est 1866 - Supplying England with players when most of your clubs were in nappies